Month: March 2019

PREVIEW: 9 reasons why we can’t wait for April 2019

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  1. Dame Maggie Smith’s 1st theatrical performance in 12 years

When we raved about film There’s Nothing Like A Dame we never thought we’d see Dame Maggie tread the boards again but she returns to London for the 1st time in 12 years in a new one-woman play called A German Life based on the actual testimony of Brunhilde Pomsel, who once worked for Joseph Goebbels. Runs 6/4 to 11/5/19. Tickets The Downton Abbey film is expected to be released in September.

  • Read on for reasons including Sally Field, Bananarama tour, Jessie Buckley film & Game Of Thrones returns

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THEATRE REVIEW: Grief Is the Thing with Feathers starring Cillian Murphy at the Barbican Theatre

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WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHERE? Barbican RUNTIME: 85 minutes (with no interval)

WHEN? 27/3, runs to 13/4/19

Cillian Murphy plays both a grieving husband and the crow who arrives to play havoc with the spirits of his family during this ambitious adaptation of an award-winning novel about love, loss and living.

  • Read on for reasons including why this reminds of the anarchic spirit of Glastonbury Festival

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THEATRE REVIEW: Admissions starring Alex Kingston at Trafalgar Studios

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WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHERE? Trafalgar Studios RUNTIME: 100 minutes (without interval)

WHEN? 23/3, runs to 25/5 and then tours UK until 22/6/19

A scorecard encouraging the audience to ‘Check your privilege’ is handed out by theatre staff at the show’s close.

  • Read on for reasons including when Kingston last appeared on stage in the West End

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THEATRE REVIEW: The Phlebotomist starring Jade Anouka & Rory Fleck Byrne at Hampstead Theatre

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WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

WHERE? Hampstead Theatre RUNTIME: 2 hours and 15 minutes (with 20-minute interval)

WHEN? 22/3, opens 25/3, runs to 20/4/19

Theatre’s 34th Olivier Awards will be presented at the Royal Albert Hall on 7 April and this new play is shortlisted for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.

  • Read on for reasons including what beat The Phlebotomist to our Best New Play monsta

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THEATRE REVIEW: Shipwreck starring Fisayo Akinade, Raquel Cassidy & Tara Fitzgerald at the Almeida Theatre

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WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHERE? Almeida Theatre

WHEN? 15/3 runs to 30/3/19 RUNTIME: 3 hours (including a 20-minute interval)

Can political plays ever be about now? Was Shakespeare liberated by the censorship which dominated his writing or did its influence transform the Bard’s work into something truly universal?

  • Read on for reasons including how this work is like the best of James Graham

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ALBUM REVIEW: The Song Diaries by Sophie Ellis-Bextor

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WORTH A LOOK?: ****

OUT: 15/3/19

TRACKLIST: Groovejet; Take Me Home; Murder On The Dancefloor; Move This Mountain; Music Gets The Best Of Me; Mixed Up World; Catch You; Me And My Imagination; Today the Sun’s On Us; Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer); Bittersweet; Not Giving Up On Love; Youngblood; Love Is A Camera; Wild Forever; A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed; Love Is You; Take Me Home; Murder On the Dancefloor

The use of orchestras in pop brings to mind for us some of music’s most thrilling moments from yesteryear: ABC’s Lexicon Of Love album, Left To My Own Devices by Pet Shop Boys or the first two LPs by My Life Story.

  • Read on for reasons including where you can see Sophie’s orchestra on tour in the UK this year

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THEATRE REVIEW: The Price starring David Suchet at the Wyndham’s Theatre

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WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE? Wyndham’s Theatre RUNTIME: 2 hours and 40 minutes (with 20-minute interval)

WHEN? 9/3, runs to 27/4/19

The effect of the Great Depression on America in the 1930s is a familiar theme running throughout the work of Arthur Miller and major revivals of his work are due at both the Old Vic, already currently staging The American Clock, and the Young Vic.

  • Read on for reasons including whether The Price is worth its 3 Olivier Award nominations

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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Sucker Punch by Sigrid (March 2019)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

OUT: 8/3/19

TRACKLIST: Sucker Punch;  Mine Right Now; Basic; Strangers; Don’t Feel Like Crying; Level Up; Sight Of You; In Vain; Don’t Kill My Vibe; Business Dinners; Never Mine; Dynamite

We 1st saw Sigrid live last year at the 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire and it was album closer Dynamite which most stood out.

  • Read on for reasons including where to see Sigrid on tour in the UK in 2019

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